middle grade fiction » The Novel Hermit

REVIEW • Up on Mars (Love, Ish by Karen Rivers)

March 16, 2017 Comment : 1

Things Mischa “Ish” Love will miss when she goes to Mars: lying on the living room floor watching TV, ice cream, her parrot Buzz Aldrin. Things Ish Love will not miss when she goes to Mars: mosquitoes, heat waves, missing her former best friend Tig.

Ish is convinced that she’ll be one of the first settlers on Mars. She’s applied to—and been rejected from—the Mars Now project forty-seven times, but the mission won’t leave for ten years and Ish hasn’t given up hope. She also hasn’t given up hope that Tig will be her best friend again (not that she’d ever admit that to anyone, least of all herself). When Ish collapses on the first day of seventh grade, she gets a diagnosis that threatens all her future plans. As Ish fights cancer, she dreams in vivid detail about the Martian adventures she’s always known she’d have—and makes unexpected discoveries about love, fate, and her place in the vast universe.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Algonquin Young Readers for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “As a planet, the Earth is mostly OK, I guess. “

All Mischa “Ish” Love has ever thought about is going to Mars. Sure, she’s gonna miss her family and her parrot Buzz Aldrin, but it’s Mars! Ish and her best friend, Tig, have discussed this Mars dream for years; she’s applied to the Mars Now project and rejected so many times she can’t count it on her hands. Despite the rejections and people’s non-believing reactions to her Mars dream, she’s not gonna give up. Ish will go to Mars.

But what happens when an unexpected diagnosis throws a wrench in her future plans?

Reviews

REVIEW • Na na na na na na na na Batgirl! (Batgirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee)

January 19, 2017 Comments : 3

Get your cape on with the DC Super Hero Girls™— the unprecedented new Super Hero universe especially for girls! Readers of all ages can fly high with the all-new adventures of Wonder Woman™, Supergirl™, Batgirl™, and some of the world’s most iconic female super heroes as high schoolers!

Batgirl has always hidden in the shadows—but does she have what it takes to stand in the spotlight at Super Hero High?

Barbara Gordon has always been an off-the-charts, just-forget-about-the-test super-genius and tech whiz, and then she gets the offer of a lifetime when Supergirl recognizes that Barbara’s talents make her an ideal candidate for Super Hero High. Donning the cape and cowl, Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl, ready to train at the most elite school on the planet, next to some of the most powerful teenagers in the galaxy. She’s always had the heart of a hero . . . but now she’ll have to prove that she can be one. Good thing she loves a challenge![/note]

Did I screech in excitement when I heard Batgirl was getting her own Super Hero High book? You bet I did. Did I refrain from scaring the Random House publicist when she asked if I want to take part in the Batgirl at Super Hero High blog tour? Yup.

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Random House for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “Oh, sure, there were injuries.”

Na na na na na na na na Batgirl! Batgirl!

In this third book in the Super Hero High series, Batgirl has decided that she doesn’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore while her friends are out there saving people. She wants to attend Super Hero High, but her dad, Commissioner Gordon, absolutely refuses to allow her. With her superior reasoning skills, she manages to convince her reluctant dad to let her attend the school (but with a few set of rules she must abide by). In Batgirl at Super Hero High, Batgirl has to deal with her desire to save people like her dad, a worried dad who doesn’t want Batgirl to get hurt, stress from all the different work loads she’s juggling, a reality show about technologically savvy people, and much more!

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • Wheelchair Zombies + Psychic Vampires (The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones by Wendelin Van Draanen)

November 25, 2016 Comment : 1

the-secret-life-of-lincoln-jones

My secret life is filled with psychic vampires, wheelchair zombies, chain-rattlin’ ghosts, and a one-eyed cat. But they’re nothing compared to my real-life stalker: a sixth-grade girl named Kandi Kain. . . .

Lincoln Jones is always working on the latest story he’s got going in his notebook. Those stories are his refuge. A place where the hero always prevails and the bad guy goes to jail. Real life is messy and complicated, so Lincoln sticks to fiction and keeps to himself. Which works fine until a nosy girl at his new school starts prying into his private business. She wants to know what he’s writing, where he disappears to after school, and why he never talks to anybody. . . .[/note]

myreview

First sentence: “Ruby Hobbs came out of her room, dancing and singing, buck naked, again. “

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • The Greatest Fifth Grader In the World (Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley)

October 7, 2016 Comment : 1

gerties-leap-to-greatness

Gertie Reece Foy is 100% Not-From-Concentrate awesome. She has a daddy who works on an oil rig, a great-aunt who always finds the lowest prices at the Piggly Wiggly, and two loyal best friends. So when her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she’ll be leaving behind. There’s just one problem: Seat-stealing new girl Mary Sue Spivey wants to be the best fifth grader, too. And there is simply not enough room at the top for the two of them.

From debut author Kate Beasley, and with illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Jillian Tamaki, comes a classic tale of hope and homecoming that will empty your heart, then fill it back up again–one laugh at a time.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Macmillan for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “The bullfrog was only half dead, which was perfect.”

Gertie Reece Foy is on a mission. It’s a two step process: One, she’s going to become the best fifth grade in the world (by giving the best summer speech of her entire class). Two, she’s gonna show her absent mother, who is planning to move away from their small town, that she, Gertie, does not need her. For Gertie, everything will look up once her mission is complete, but an obstacle in the form of the seat-stealing new girl Mary Sue Spivey threatens her mission. This new girl cannot sabotage Gertie. Absolutely not. If Gertie has to postpone her mission and sort out her competition, she’ll do it, but at what cost?

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • Blue Spirit Possession (The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart by Lauren DeStefano)

September 21, 2016 Leave a Comment

Lionel is a wild boy, who doesn’t much like to be around other people. He’d rather be a purring cat or a wolf stalking the woods.

Marybeth is a nice girl. She doesn’t need to be told to comb her hair or brush her teeth, and she’s kind to everyone at the orphanage . . . Lionel most of all.

Different though they are, Lionel and Marybeth are best friends in a world that has forgotten about them. So when a mysterious blue spirit possesses Marybeth—and starts to take control—they know they must stop it before the real Marybeth fades away forever.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Bloomsbury for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “Lionel was a wild boy.”

Meet Lionel, a boy who acts more like an animal than a human, and Marybeth, a girl who is amiable and follows every direction given to her. You wouldn’t expect these complete opposites to get along, but they do. At this orphanage, they have nothing but each other.

In The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart, Marybeth becomes possessed by a mysterious blue spirit who is wary of everybody and keeps acting out. Lionel and Marybeth set out to figure out what has gotten ahold of Marybeth and how they can keep Marybeth from fading away.

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • The Lewis and Clark Father-Son Journey (The Courage Test by James Preller)

September 14, 2016 Comment : 1

the-courage-test

Will has no choice. His father drags him along on a wilderness adventure in the footsteps of legendary explorers Lewis and Clark–whether he likes it or not. All the while, Will senses that something about this trip isn’t quite right.

Along the journey, Will meets fascinating strangers and experiences new thrills, including mountain cliffs, whitewater rapids, and a heart-hammering bear encounter.

It is a journey into the soul of America’s past, and the meaning of family in the future. In the end, Will must face his own, life-changing test of courage.

A father-and-son journey along the Lewis and Clark Trail–from Fort Mandan to the shining sea–offers readers a genre-bending blend of American history, thrilling action, and personal discovery.[/note]

myreview

First sentence: “My name is William Meriwether Miller. “

What better way for a father and a son to bond than to take the same journey that Lewis and Clark did? Well, it’s not what William Meriwether Miller wants to do. (Yes, he was named after the great Lewis and Clark.) He’d rather be home with his mom, playing in the All-Star baseball team, but yet, he is forced to go on a trip with his father.

« Previous Page